Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics

ISSN: 2707-756X
Website: https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/jeltal

Teaching English to Adult Learners: A Practical Remedial Method

Hamza Ethelb*1, Mahfouz Shalabi2 and Ishraq Sasi3
1
Lecturer, Department of Translation, University of Tripoli, Libya, h.ethelb@uot.edu.ly
2
Independent Researcher, tripoliano@nemoglobal.com
3
Assistant Lecturer, Department of English Language, University of Tripoli, Libya, eshraqsasi@gmail.com
Corresponding Author: Hamza Ethelb, E-mail: h.ethelb@uot.edu.ly; hamza_ethelb@hotmail.com

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Received: September 17, 2020
Accepted: October 12, 2020
Volume: 2
Issue: 4
DOI: 10.32996/jeltal.2020.2.4.7
KEYWORDS
Adult learners, learning
behavior, remedy, teaching,
English, teaching style
This study explores the particularities of teaching English to adult learners. It looks at
whether adult learners’ comprehension of lessons is slowed down by factors of
teaching style or classroom settings. The study uses a questionnaire to collect views of
adult learners from the Libyan context. The questionnaire that contains 37 statements
measures different aspects of teaching English. It was delivered online using Google
Forms. Those aspects include teaching style, preferences of correcting mistakes,
willingness of cooperation among adult learners, self-dependence and self-confidence
of learners, and preferred techniques to learning grammar and vocabulary. This study
also offers a remedial method that is inferred from the experience of the researchers
and supported by the results of the data. The results show that adult learners have
different perception towards acquiring a foreign language. They agree that they need
to better their learning input. The suggested remedial process could be an answer to
their needs.

1. Introduction1
Adult people are believed to have acquainted themselves with acquisition of knowledge throughout their past experience. This
is obviously done through the use of their mother tongue language which presumably stored in their subconscious memory. The
mechanism of producing this language subscribes them as auto-speakers. This mechanism function properly in the process of
mother tongue production. However, in this research, we explore whether this mechanism helps in learning another language.
It is true that languages are different in their structure, but learners always rely on their subconscious memory as they speak.

The field of developing methods and techniques of teaching languages is constantly advancing and we see numerous techniques
that are based on students, tasks, activities, etc. However, adult learners sometimes express their unsatisfactory of certain
programs. Their thoughts are sometimes scattered as they get to the result of unable to communicate after some time spent in
classrooms. In this research, we aim to find out a proper and adequate way to teach adults a language that they are willing to
learn. The study highlights the teaching environment and delivery of lessons as well as aspects of handling intricacies of adult
learners. As experiences teachers, it has been drawn to our attention many times that adult students find themselves
uncomfortable with the teaching styles that they think it is centered around teaching younger learners. Consequently, they do
not fully interact with the ongoing activities and are resistant to take part. This leaves them to come out with a result that they
are not very satisfactory with.

In this research, we attempt to analyze collated data in order to find a proper avenue for adult learners to overcome or mitigate
the difficulties that they face by offering a remedial approach which pave the learning path disregarding the influence of L1 on
L2 or the negative transfer of the mother tongue mechanisms on the learning perception of adult learners. Our hypothesis is

Published by Al-KindiCenter for Research and Development. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article
under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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that adult learners are better equipped to learn new languages – they just need a different approach that we discuss in the
remedial section. Thus, this study poses the following research questions:

- Do adult learners have serious difficulties that slowing their progress in language acquisition?
- To what extent adult learners can cope with interactive classroom activities?
- To what extent a teaching style matters to adult learners?

In fact, language learning for adults has become a very topical issue in Libya as it seems the older the student, the slower they
progress. The requirement of English in many sectors in the country seem to have forced adults to learn English. Thus, English is
gaining significance in Libya as the country has been on track to open to the world as trade and business are growing. Libya has
also set programs of developments in areas of education and tourism where a number of state employees were planned to
study abroad, but they get English language preparation in Libya. These are a few reasons indicating that English language has
become a necessary tool that adults need to master. English language schools adopt various methods and approaches to teach
adults. In this study, we surveyed a sample of those learners in order to explore their perception and preferred learning style
for the aim of coming up with a remedial approach that could be used for teaching adults specifically. The sample has been
limited to adult learners who have already been attending some English classes.

2. Teaching adults
It is argued that most adult learners would probably be anxious at the thought of walking into a classroom since they surmise
that their full-grown personality might be erroneously treated. Thus, they would rather be in a learning or studying situation
that somehow different from young learners who usually knuckle under strict discipline teachers may set in the classroom
(Abouserie, 1995). According to Syed (2016), the typical age of attaining adulthood is believed to start at 18, although this could
vary among different countries. Human adulthood encompasses psychological adult development where students or people
become competence of mastering their mother tongue (Birren & Schaire, 2006). In fact, obtaining a language takes time and
effort. This is because the learning process is usually structured in organized timetables and programmes where learner digest
the intake and make use of the experience they learn in classrooms. Adult learners’ circumstances usually differ from young
learners as they have other social responsibilities (Pinter, 2012).

Hence, a special method or remedy that suits adults’ capability and sensibility has always been under investigation. Observably,
adult students appear to not be gratified about their performance, and teachers need to come with innovative teaching
techniques and activities to handle such situation (Farrington et al., 2012). Indeed, there are certain merits that characterize
adults’ language learners. For Instance, adult learners can contribute with conceptual thoughts. They, of course, can make
progress in learning a language, even at a later stage in their lives. This is because they usually rely on mindful sensible exercises
of their considerable brainpower, contrary to children whose language acquisition occur innately (Pinker, 2007). This proposes
that we do not have to depend exclusively on activities such as games and songs – though these may be suitable for some
students. Adult language learners usually have a wide range of life experience to depend on. Based on those experiences, they
have expectation about the learning process, and it is likely that they have their own set of learning models (Deschacht &
Goeman, 2015). In general, adults are in favor to be more disciplined than some teenagers. Furthermore, they are usually
distinctively prepared to carry on despite frustration (Harmer, 2001, p. 40). They enter classrooms with a magnificent scope of
experiences that enable teachers to use a broad range of activities with them. However, dissimilar to young children and
teenagers, adults usually have a vivid apprehension of the purpose of their learning and what is their ultimate objectives (Grasso,
2017). Nonetheless, motivation is a critical factor in effective learning. It is an essential part in the learning process. Adults are
competent to keep up a level of motivation by maintaining an ultimate goal that teenagers find more challenging.

However, this does not mean at all that adults are totally problem-free learners. They may face some difficulties that occasionally
slow down the pace of comprehending the learning activities. For example, they may cope not well with the teaching techniques,
as their past and/or previous studying background knowledge may have prepared them to one special methodological style
(Jarvis, 2012). Such style that may not make them at ease with unexplored teaching patterns. Further, adult learners could be
unfriendly to certain learning activities. William and Burden (1997, p. 32) argue that many gray-haired adults are concerned that
their cognitive capacity may shrink with the passage of time. They are anxious to keep their inventive competence alive, and to
preserve a sense of creative contribution that aim to leave a positive legacy of the self for the future (Qinhua et al., 2016).
However, distinguished teachers take all of these elements into their consideration. They realize that their adult learners will
often be ready to keep on with an activity that lasts longer than one designed for younger learners. In dealing with adults,
teachers need to work on getting students involved in an activity in a more indirect learning in all areas of receptive (reading

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and listening) and communicative skills (speaking and writing). Adult learners could be said to be able to do better in activities
that require employment of mind, or activities that require real social experiences. The poor impact of learning experience that
adult learners may have been through is usually watered down by experienced teachers (Lucardie, 2014). It is important to
reduce the concerns of failure by presenting tasks which are accomplishable, and to make tasks adaptable to the learning taste
of adult learners with the needed effects and results.

3. Adult perception of classroom settings

The way classrooms are set makes a difference to teaching language to students of different age-groups. Middle adult learners
may have perception that is different from younger adults or older adult learners (Kite & Johnson, 1988). Teachers should be
aware of the setting and shaping of the classroom. They need to be in control to reshape the ways desks and chairs appear in
the learning environment (Cuban, 2007). It is true that this could be somehow difficult in teaching large classes, but it is
manageable in small-sized classes. It is encouraging that classrooms are shaped in movable settings. The classroom setting
matters to adult learners. Thus, one may ask: is it possible to take different seating positions just without moving anything? Is it
possible to reshape the seats? Teachers of adults also have to know which area in the room is suitable for learners to stand and
interact. Adult learners would probably prefer working in environments that are comfortable and stress-free.

Schmitt (2002) contends that each task a teacher performs in the class involve different standing, setting or grouping that for
the task to be effectively and purposefully delivered. Students needs to be exposed to different types of seating positions which
will help them communicate and interact with their partners comprehensibly. It is enormously important to involve adult
learners in different situations to be recreated within the classroom as this adds a kind of variety to the sitting in the same place
every time, rather than remaining in the same place for the whole teaching lesson (ibid). This could not be in fact perceived by
adult learners, especially older adults. Adult learners could shy away from activities that may involve them to speak and act in
front of the class. In fact, this really contributes in building linguistic confidence (Bettinger et al., 2013). To put this into context,
pair work and group work give permission to learners to use a comparatively colloquial style, whereas some may feel the need
to be by comparison more formal when speaking to the teacher. Thornbury & Watkins (2007) point out that teachers of adult
learners should always bear in mind that in some large classes, pair and group work may result in having the teacher losing
control and a sense of confusion occurs. Learners may be anxious if they perceive that the teacher cannot hear what they are
saying.

4. Methodology
This section presents the research methodology. It illustrates to readers the procedures of data collection and analysis. It mainly
displays the process of design and administering the questionnaire that is used to examine adult learners of English in relation
to handling the teaching tyle, cooperation tendencies, self-dependency in the learning process, correcting mistakes and adults’
intake of grammar and vocabulary.

4.1 Questionnaire design

This study uses a questionnaire to answer the research questions. It is comprehensive enough to cater for all the aspects of adult
learning process. All questionnaire statements are related to adult students of learning English in Libya. The statements of the
questionnaire, we believe, are of value to elicit their manners of learning a second language, which is English in our case. The
questionnaire targets adult learners of English whose English levels vary.

The language of the questionnaire statements is presented in Arabic. They are written in a clear and straightforward style for
students to understand. The questionnaire is broad in scope as it was designed to infer adult students' intake of the language
skills. It contains 37 statements that cover a range of teaching tyle, cooperation tendencies, self-dependency in the learning
process, correcting mistakes and adults’ intake of grammar and vocabulary.

The questionnaire is divided into three direct questions and 37 statements. The three general questions are at the top and give
information about age, gender and level of English language. The second part consists of 37 statements that are designed
according to Likert scale. Respondents have to choose a range from strongly disagree to strongly agree. It is designed to be
practical and never time-consuming. More specifically, the questionnaire statements deal with students’ motivation,
interactions, attitudes and styles, methods that they prefer to deem effective for them to acquire a language. They explore their
learning routines inside the classroom and their method of cooperating with classmates in terms of doing homework, answering

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activities and communicating with teachers. They are in fact aim at finding out their preferred manner of acquiring teaching tyle,
cooperation tendencies among students, self-dependency in the learning process, correcting mistakes and learning vocabulary.

4.2 Research subjects

In general, the participants were Libyan adult students of English aged 18 years and above. Their English language level varies
from lower to upper levels. They all have been studying English for at least three months. As the questionnaire statements were
structured in Arabic, the level of students has not been an obstacle for receiving accurate responses that reflect the opinions of
students. Such variety of age, gender and level of the subjects of the study will enrich the outcome of the research results.

4.2 Research procedures

The questionnaire was delivered electronically through social media platforms. In Libya, face-to-face study has been suspended
for the global COVID-12 pandemic. Although this is not the main reason for delivering the questionnaire online, it was in fact the
only available choice. Using electronic platforms has been more effective in terms of time and effort. It also diversified the results
of the study as a wide range of participating students took part.

The questionnaire statements take almost ten minutes to be completed. Students, who took part in the research, received
written instructions regarding the process and the purpose of the study. It has been made clear to them that their participation
is voluntarily and they can stop sending the questionnaire at any time. The questionnaire was fundamentally delivered on
Facebook forums that relevant to teaching English in Libya and via emails to students. Participating students were given time to
send back their responses, but they in fact responded almost instantly. The process of collecting responses took almost two
weeks.

The questionnaire was designed by using Google Forms. All participants, whether on Facebook forums or emails, were given a
link that takes them immediately to the questionnaire where they can answer and submit their responses instantly. However,
in the analysis section below, English translations of the questionnaire statements are provided for the purpose of clarity and
discussion. We discuss the data and attempt to analyze them qualitatively and compare ideas of participants in order to reach
a remedial approach that can be of use to teachers when have adult students.

5. Analysis and Discussion

The results of this paper were collected from adult learners of English of different levels by means of Likert's five-point scale.
The responses were divided into five domains each tackling a group of the learning. This section presents analysis of data and
discussions that to respond to the research questions of the study. It looks at the teaching tyle, cooperation tendencies, self-
dependency in the learning process, correcting mistakes and adults’ intake of grammar and vocabulary.

5.1 Teaching style

The data shows that about 40.7 % of our research population face almost no problems when taught by native speakers of English.
Despite their incomplete knowledge of English, adult learners of English prefer to be taught by native speakers of English or
teachers who do not use their mother tongue in the class. Even beginner students seem to have divergent opinions on this
matter as data shows that participants that agree with Libyan teachers of English are equal to those who disagree. This can be
attributed to the fact that some students prefer Libyan teachers of English because of cultural concepts and comprehensive
matter, while others believe that English language is best acquired when taught by native speakers of English.

A relevant direct statement that we put is whether you prefer teachers who speak both Arabic and English in explaining lessons.
The data shows that about 35 % of participants strongly disagree and 13% disagree with the statement of using Arabic in the
class. However, 35% (both strongly agree and agree) seem to be happy with using Arabic in the teaching process. This could be
attributed to the fact that adult learners of English are quite mature and can choose the best way to learn. Some participants
think that teachers should only use English throughout the teaching activity. In this regard, the data shows that about 42.9% of
the participants prefer that their teacher to use English merely in the process of explaining the lesson (not before or after). It
could be inferred that some adult learners of English are happy to use Arabic with their teachers when they are not in the
activity. This could be attribute to lack of self-confidence or incomplete communicative competence.

Adult students prefer that teachers choose the topics of writing lessons. 32% of the participants strongly agree with this and
26% agree with the statement, while only 4.9% of our sample think they can handle that part on their own. Some students are
sometimes in confusion and find it difficult to choose a topic that they can write on. Although in theory this should be the

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opposite, adult students seem to prefer instructions in writing lessons. Furthermore, some students ask their teacher to choose
a topic for them because they see it as a challenge that they should take. Lessons of writing are planned and structured and they
require teachers’ intervention. This is a fact that adult learners seem to be familiar with. Traditional teaching of all language
skills is unfavorable by adult learners. The data shows that about 57% of respondents i.e., most of our sample prefer learning
through playing games and having fun. This implies their rejection to traditional ways of teaching. As teachers, we should
develop our methods to meet our students’ expectations, in addition to coping with new trends in teaching languages.

The data also shows that over 64% of respondents strongly agree with use of real-life materials in the class. They prefer lessons
that are based on situations involves concrete encounters of language usages. The content of the lesson, for example, should
provide learners with the language they need in travelling, shopping, their study, etc. A relevant point that follow, students were
asked about taking notes during the class, most of them agree that they take notes on a piece of paper while the activity is
ongoing as a means of supportive reference to what they are being taught. Real-life situation-based lesson with notes on side
appear to be a favorable strategy by adult learners. This in fact leads us to another relevant point that participants seem to
follow. Over 86% (both strongly agree and agree) of adult learners who took part in the study state that taking notes make them
better remember the objectives and outcome of the lesson.

Moving around in the class whether by teachers of students as the activity demands could be a distracting factor to some
students, or older students may be reluctant to take part in such activities. In fact, the data shows contrasting results as about
30% of the participants do not get confused or distracted when students or teachers move around inside the class. On the
contrary, about 21.7% of participants are distracted. This can be the result of the individual differences between students
whether middle adults or older-adults. Further, adult learners of English differ greatly from other types of learners in terms of
receiving and processing linguistic input.

5.2 Correcting mistakes

In this section, we explore three statements that are relevant to teacher intervention in handling students lack of understanding
of some segments of the ongoing activity. Adult learners seem to be encouraged with the teacher’s intervention with help to
work out their activities and drills. The data shows that about 30% (strongly agree) and 23% (agree) of respondents find it helpful
when teacher come in and assist them. They welcome teachers’ help, correction, and comments on their linguistic production.
It is believed that some students may encounter vague corners in learning activity and the teacher is a great aide. In this respect,
we asked a direct statement, whether you prefer teachers to directly correct your mistakes and in front of your colleagues. In
general, the data show that 68% of participants are with the statement and about 19% are against it. It is agreed that teachers’
correction should be carried out with some techniques that involve generalizing the problem and not putting students on the
spot, for example.

Warm-up activities are important before the start of the lesson. It refreshes the minds of students. We present this idea as a
way of teacher’s encouragement before the start of the lesson. The data reveals that about 38.3% (strongly agree) and 25%
(agree) of our sample prefer to be motivated by the teacher before embarking on the task. This shows us the importance of the
teachers’ role as educators, and at the same time it sheds light on the learners need of all types of encouragement before doing
any task. Accordingly, adult learners of English prefer a teacher who knows how to encourage them, extracts the best out of
them and corrects their mistakes. Despite being mature enough to know how to learn a language, adult learners of English face
real problems when learning English and do need some guidance.

5.3 Cooperation
Working in pairs and small groups are crucial in language teaching. We survey adult learners’ perception of the idea of
cooperating with classmates in doing activities. Teachers should encourage their students to share their work together to gain
new information and diverse experiences. An encouraging factor of this is exhibited in the data as 49.2% of respondents do not
avoid reading in front of their colleagues, while only 6.6% would avoid reading aloud. This reflects the cooperative spirit present
in adult learners. Cooperative learning, in fact, implies elements of competitiveness as pairs or groups may compete in answering
the task. Our data shows that the competitive element among groups is favorable by adult learners where 45.9% of participants
are keen on challenging each other.

Indeed, the data shows that 31.1% (strongly agree) and 27.9% (agree) of participants prefer dividing the reading tasks among
themselves to doing them alone. They think that sharing reading tasks in groups with partners makes reading even easier.

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Further, the majority of around 76% of participants agree that sharing tasks with other partners helps in consolidating what they
learn. This result reveals the importance of sharing when learning a new language. Teachers can help their students in the
process of forming homogeneous groups. They can support and guide these groups. As a matter of fact, some students are
reluctant in cooperation and it is the role of teachers to boost their cooperative spirit.

On the contrary, the data shows that adult learners disfavor cooperation in writing activities or their opinions are divergent. For
example, 26.2% strongly disagree in cooperating in writing tasks, 14.8% agree, 18% are undecided, 19.7% agree, and 21.3%
strongly agree with the statement of ‘sharing the writing tasks with another student is better than writing by myself’. It can be
inferred that adult learners of English prefer to practice and apply what they learn on a piece of paper, and they select doing it
alone without any help from their partners. This can be attributed to the level differences between students. High achieving
students do not favor less achieving students to hinder the flow of their thoughts, so they prefer working on their own.

5.4 Self-dependency
Cooperative environment in the classroom enhances self-dependency. Although students are working cooperatively, they build
their linguistic capabilities individually. Working in groups boosts trust and self-reliance and it encourages them to participate
interactively. For example, the data shows that around 52.5% of the participants prefer take time after class and apply learning
rules by themselves. It is argued this strategy can enhance the process of acquiring rules and other relevant task-based activities.
In a similar vein, about 55.7% of respondents strongly agree with immediate application of what they learn whether it is a
grammatical rule or a piece of writing or any other linguistic or cultural segment. This point is directly connected with the
previous one. This indicates that adult learners of English are in a great need of testing their linguistic accuracy by producing the
language in the form of written output and giving it to the teacher to get instant individual correction. The whole process of
taking time by one self reflects the levels and achievements of adult learning in acquiring a second language.

Further, bout 57.4% strongly agree with this statement that ‘writing my own examples on a piece of paper and handing it to my
teacher enhances my self-confidence’. This reflects the awareness of the importance of practice to adult learners and that they
favor the idea of challenging their mistakes, if any. It is a practice that builds trust, cooperation, and self-confidence. A quite
relevant point that the data brings about is the exercises of reading aloud in front of the class. The data shows that about 33.3%
(strongly agree) and 21.7% (agree) of the participants prefer reading aloud in front of their classmates. They are not ashamed
of making mistakes, but rather they are self-confident and enthusiastic to use the language. This is in fact what teachers are
required to do in terms of building confidence in their students. In general, the data reveals that adult students are with the idea
of having time to ponder on lessons they take and to be given space to express themselves freely and confidently.

5.5 Learners’ intake of grammar and vocabulary

In the section, we explore the way adult students prefer to handle learning techniques that are relevant to teaching grammar
and vocabulary. In one of the statements that examines the idea of whether adult learners would not care much if a word passes
in the lesson without knowing its meaning. Their answers in fact are interesting and contrasting at the same time. About 43.3 %
of the participants, in general, care about every single word they hear in class from their teacher, while about 33.4% do not see
it as a problem if they do not comprehend some words during the lesson. 23.3% were undecided. This overlapping of the results
shows that adult learners of English differ in terms of their interest in the vocabulary they are exposed to, i.e., some of them
tend to focus on every word they hear and would like to understand and learn them all, while others concentrate on overall
objectives of the lesson. To be more specific, about 45.9% (strongly agree and agree) of questionnaire participants depend on
Arabic language when they do not know the meaning of an English term, while about 34.4% reject the strategy of using Arabic
as a solution when they do not know the meaning of a word.

Another strategy that reflects cooperation spirit in dealing with unknown segments of the lesson that we surveyed adult learners
to have their opinion about is to seek assistance from their partners. Would it that be comfortable to them? The data shows, in
general, that 52.8% of adult learners agree on asking their classmates for assistance in explaining a grammar rule or a meaning
of word. Asking students could be the easiest most effortless way to understand a lesson segment. There are many strategies
to do this, we only reflect on their behavior in the classroom. Teachers should be equipped with workable strategies to help
students actively participate in the class. This could be particularly true in teaching grammar. For instance, we surveyed students
on whether they prefer use of traditional methods in teaching grammatical rules. The data shows that 32.2% (strongly disagree)
and 26.9% (disagree) of participants refuse being taught by means of any traditional way. Students prefer modern teaching
methods to the traditional ones. They would like to practice and use the grammatical rules rather than memorizing them. English

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language teachers should update their teaching methods in a way that matches their students' levels, needs and expectations.
However, 13.6% strongly agree with the statement, 11.9% agree, and 25.9 are undecided about it.

6. Suggested remedial approach

In the questionnaire, we asked students if they are still looking for the appropriate way to learn English. In general, 57.7% agree
that they need a more communicative way to acquire the language. It is true that adult learners of English can have some control
over their language learning process, they still need some guidance. We know that learning a language is a complex process that
requires both persistence and practice, thus we suggest a remedy process that may help in this regard.

Since adult learners have already been equipped with L1 and heading to L2, it is believed that there will be clashes due to the
fact that both languages are not the same in terms of structure. Learners unintentionally rely on L1 as in fact it impedes the
learning process. Therefore, a new method or approach which presume that a remedy process is needed in order to tackle points
of hindrances during the process of working on an activity. The remedy process could achieve better results for adult learners.
It is like constructing or creating a new chamber for L2 and not to rely on L1 – which is already stored in the subconscious and
dominate communication sphere in the brain. The remedial method we suggest is to fill this chamber of L2 with a number of
sentences that must be learned by heart and then learners asked to write them down – this could be in any area of language
skills. Hence, learners will have the courage to express themselves through the new language system and get acquainted with
L2 structure such as word order and syntactical structure.

By following such procedure, we are executing the acquisition method that is somehow have aspects of similarity to the child
acquisition. It differs in terms of mechanism though. However, this mechanism is considered as an input approach, whereas the
child acquisition approach is done through repetition and imitation. The above-mentioned sentences of word order, for example,
that relate to a particular drill have to be chosen adequately by having L2 components such as nouns, pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions.

By way of illustration, an experimental method could make it clearer. An activity may start with the access sentences which are
the key points to all languages around the world by introducing oneself to the others. This activity below could be used by
students to restructure their L2 chamber and fill it with chunks of language usage.
My name is Mahfoud.
I am Libyan.
I live in Tripoli.
I am 60.
I am a teacher.
I am (not) married.
My father is an engineer and my mother is a nurse.
My favorite color is blue.
My favorite sports are football and swimming.
I am interested in art.

Having practiced those language chunks, teachers may make learners initiate conversations and offer a variety of questions that
get to those answers. We believe that by accomplishing this drill thoroughly, the fundamentals and structure of the hypothetical
L2 chamber formed in the minds of learners will subconsciously form questions to those to statements mentioned above. The
questions could then be written to students.
What is your name?
Where are you from?
Where do you live?
How old are you?
What do you do?
Are you married?
What does your father do?
What is your favorite color?
What are your favorite sports?
What are you interested in?

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Learners must practice those through speaking and writing; hence, they got the word order and sentence structure by practice
acquisition which will motivate them and ease the learning process. The next step is to introduce, for example, parts of speech
which in fact already exist in their L1, but with different structures that can be clarified in an early stage which adult learners
will not find difficulties to understand. This remedy process will be moving from a stage to another as scaffolding system, moving
from a platform to another. When they reach a further level, they will be ready for more classical and diversified language
courses which they will find them quite docile, since they became more familiar with the language structure and have a chamber
in their heads that contain compartments of the L2 system.

7. Conclusion
Teaching a language can be a difficult and complicated task as it requires persistence, wisdom and patience. Teaching adults, in
particular, can be even more complicated as shown in this research which handles issues of whether adult learners have serious
difficulties that slow their progress in language acquisition. It also pointed out that adult learners’ coping with the interactive
classroom activities and the teaching style they prefer. The study used a questionnaire to survey the opinions of Libyan adult
students of English.

The study revealed that adult learners of English differ greatly in their perception of teaching style, the way mistakes are handled
in the classroom, cooperating with partners on activities, self-dependence matters and learning vocabulary and grammar. For
example, some students prefer to know the meaning of every word that is said in the class, while others concentrate on the
overall meaning. The results of the study displayed that students differ in the extent to which they use their mother tongue
(Arabic) to facilitate their learning. In general, adult learners of English seem to have difficulty in acquiring language with
techniques that would very much suit younger learners. That is why this study suggests a remedial method that offers some
insights in dealing with adult learners. We believe that teachers should be equipped with the best teaching materials and
methods in order to deal with adult learners. Teaching English to adults is not merely a job but rather an art that teachers need
to master.

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